Sensex Tanks 870 Points, Nifty Slips Below 14,650

The domestic equity markets on Monday, April 5 witnessed a bloodbath as the overall sentiment turned negative with a massive spike in Covid cases across the country and the economically significant state of Maharashtra being the worst affected state among others. The banking sector was the worst hit on Monday as it tumbled over three per cent on sustained selling throughout the day.

Index heavyweights such as Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, and SBI dragged the BSE Sensex to close lower by 870.51 points at 49,159.32, while the Nifty-50 closed down by 229.55 points at 14,637.80. Following the key indices, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap also shed over a per cent each, United Brewerie and Canara Bank were top drags for the Midcap index as they slipped over seven per cent each.

The major movement in the Banks and Financial stocks is due to the upcoming Monetary policy announcement as investors will track the updates from the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee, said analysts. It is likely to be announced on Wednesday, April 7. 

Among the sectors, barring IT and Metals, all other sectors ended with negative figures as participants went heavy on selling. The PSU Bank index plunged over four per cent with major declines seen in stocks of Canara Bank and Central Bank as they declined over five per cent each. 

However, the IT stocks added gains amid volatility in the market with HCL Tech and TCS closing as top gainers of the index after surging over three and two per cent each. 

In the overall market breadth, around 1848 shares declined, 1063 shares advanced, and 180 shares were unchanged. 

 Moving further, the market over the next few days would monitor as to how the situation pans out in Maharashtra and also in other states especially 8-10 other states where Covid cases are rising rampantly, said Hemang Jani of Motilal Oswal Financial Services. 

 On Sunday, April 4, Maharashtra reported 57,074 fresh cases and 222 deaths. The state has announced a complete lockdown on weekends and a night curfew from 8 pm to 7 am on weekdays. Overall, the country reported over 1 lakh fresh cases on Sunday.